Visitors turning up at art exhibitions on Narathiwas 22 this month are greeted with two galleries of faces. While Tawan Wattuya's neon-coloured portraits of the rich and famous -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- have captivated media attention, Japanese artist Mika Tamori subtly challenges viewers' gaze and inverts the power dynamic between subject and spectator.
In "Do Not Look At Me", on display at Cartel Artspace until March 21, Mika Tamori takes us on a sensorial journey, albeit one that takes place in the confined space of a cage. Visitors walk in endless rounds, animals in a zoo, watched by the same beasts they have come to see.
A white cube populated by birds, monkeys, goats and feline specimens, the gallery is filled with animal sounds, soft shrieks and wails, as well as nondescript odours -- pheromones -- like a mirror held up to our faces.
